Read Traitor, Book 1 of The Turner Chronicles Page 35

  Chapter 19

  Several days passed before Aaron found time to head out to the Manor. He had hoped Cathy would drive him out there, but she swore she could not leave the store unattended for such a long time, especially now that she had to sort through the new shipment Aaron had just brought back with him. Both storerooms were an absolute mess that needed organizing, and she needed to figure out how much to charge for some of the new items. Inventory was going to take forever. Take Sarah and have a good time, dear.

  Since she just happened to be the town marshal, Sarah could not leave for several days at the drop of a hat. She had to arrange coverage, and there were two trials in which she needed to give evidence. Strangely enough, to Aaron's way of thinking, she had the power of summary execution without trial, but she did not have the power to keep people in jail for longer than a week without a hearing before the prisoner's peers. In the country of his birth it was almost impossible for a criminal to receive a death sentence. However, it was not that unusual for someone to be incarcerated for years before somebody noticed that there had never been a trial to determine whether or not that person actually belonged in prison.

  Aaron used his waiting time well. He delivered Jorrin's hardware and refused to accept a percentage of Jorrin's business in exchange, telling Jorrin no thanks and thinking Hell No. Enough was enough. A person could put only so much on his plate before he wanted to throw up. Aaron had reached that point about the time Sarah dropped the bank in his lap. Jorrin would just have to wait to pay him back because there was no way Aaron was going to add more troubles to his growing supply of headaches. From here on his life was to be as stress free as possible.

  He did finally find a player for the inn. Team Hagarty had a small supply of songs he could play on his guitar. The limited number of songs did not endear him to Aaron, but Team did have a guitar, he did know how to play the guitar, and he did want something to do that would keep him away from home during the evening hours. His only wife was known to be a cold woman with an evil temper and a worse backhand. That made him the only person who would willingly take the position Aaron offered. However, Aaron did hire two other musicians on a part-time basis. Their job was to teach Team some new songs.

  Mister Bronson returned with his freight wagons. He had done very well with the rechargeable flashlight. Between that and the other items he sold for Aaron, Aaron was another two hundred and twenty silver richer, which came to just over one pound. He gave Bronson his new orders and most of the rest of the goods he could not hope to sell locally. Just for the fun of it he threw in the solar powered adding machine, too. Bronson left with a cheery wave, happy in the knowledge that he was not so slowly becoming rich because of a not so simple storekeeper in an extremely distant town.

  Steven Knight continued coming to Bayne's Reading Emporium at night. He was careful to stay away from Sarah when she showed, but he spent far too much time playing chess with Cathy--at least in Aaron's judgment. Jealousy clenched his belly tight every time he saw them together, even though playing chess and talking was all they ever did. He swore to himself that the next time Knight challenged him he would be one hell of a lot less forgiving.

  Aaron thought about confronting Cathy with his suspicions, but after she closed the Emporium for the night she was always kind and warm. Though her passion had cooled considerably from what it had been, Aaron was not worried because Sarah's ardor had also cooled down. Theirs was now more of a comfortable romance than a passionate one. However, there were a few moments, well, one long moment during one warm evening when the stars sparkled above and meteors showered the black canvas of a late night sky with bright streaks of silver light. There was that one long moment when the mule was content, the wagon was comfortable, and a warm female head nestled familiarly on each of his shoulders. Later, when they returned to Last Chance, Cathy assured Sarah that she would not be bothered when Sarah left with Aaron to go to the Manor. Then she kissed Sarah goodnight, and she kissed Aaron an even better goodnight before retiring to the inn.

  Four days later Missy turned twelve. The party Flo threw at the inn was great. Ann Flinders fell out of love with Aaron and in love with Team Hagarty because she liked his playing. A week later Aaron went to the wedding of Mistress Turnbull's daughter. The ceremony was brief, given by the bride's own father. Mister Turnbull was pastor of the Lord's Church of Heavenly Worship. He liked short sermons, which was why Aaron always chose his services when he did bother to go to church. When his present was opened the bride appeared totally confused about the silk sheets he gave her. Apparently, she loved the material but had not one whit of an idea what the sheets were supposed to be used for since they were too thin to provide much warmth. A small side conversation revealed that the Turnbulls were so poor that they only had cast aside blankets. Aaron made a private bet with himself. He bet that the bride would sell the sheets before two weeks were out but never did find out if he won.

  Early on a Tuesday morning he woke to find Sarah banging on his door. She held an overnight case in her hand, and a wagon sat in the street. "Well, are you ready to go?"

  "Today?"

  "My schedule is clear. It's today or never. Your pick. Bring your bow. You've missed a lot of practices lately."

  Aaron lost four practice shafts on the trip. That did not bother him. What bothered him was Sarah making him get out of the wagon to spend half an hour looking for each one. She claimed it was his fault. If he had hit the targets she pointed him toward he would know where his arrows went. Defending himself, Aaron pointed out that he had hit every target, but grass tufts did not do much to slow an arrow down.

  As they neared the end of their journey Sarah laughed when he shifted on the hard wagon seat for the fiftieth time.

  Aaron glared at her. "If I had walked I would have been there by now, and I wouldn't have so many wagon made bruises on my arse."

  "You would have gotten lost," Sarah pointed out. "You're helpless when you're on your own."

  Sliding closer to her, Aaron raised an eyebrow and leered. "I know something I won't be helpless at. I know exactly what to do with my hands now."

  She shook her head and patted his hand. "Not without Cathy, dear. I won't have her feeling left out."

  Which struck Aaron as ironic. Since when had being totally alone with a woman been an impediment to what he intended? He wanted privacy, and SHE wanted more company before she was willing to spoon. The old rocking chair philosophers were right. Life really was a bitch.